A very green Valencia, with reinforcements that barely stood out or changed anything, was unable to create danger against a Celta that seemed more seasoned and with clearer ideas. The draw (0-0) annoyed the blanquinegro fans, who quickly understood that this season will not be very different from the last ones, full of suffering. The fans seem doomed to watch the same movie once again. Carlos Corberán made it clear that his priority is to keep his goal intact and trusts that the rest will come with time. That goal, perhaps minor, was achieved. Both teams were making their debut in the second league matchday.
The first match of the Mestalla farewell, which thus begins its countdown before moving to the other side of the city, was disappointing. Two very tame teams face to face. To start, a soporific probing phase that lasted more than 20 minutes in which Valencia had more possession, but without a clear center forward, with Danjuma moving all over the front, they didn’t know what to do with the ball. Sato, the 19-year-old Japanese who appeared this summer in Valencia’s squad, spent the whole afternoon making runs without the midfielders paying attention to him. Danjuma, on the other hand, was sought but not found. The Nigerian, ineffective throughout last season, appeared as a starter by magic. The trick backfired on Corberán, who perhaps put him on display to see if the PSV offer materializes and translates into income to strengthen his attack in the final stretch of the transfer market.
Celta gave more danger when they stole the ball and quickly launched it deep, near Jutglà, who became a buoy on the edge of the Valencia area, than when they tried to weave play moving the ball horizontally. Then they found a Valencia that was fully compacted. Corberán, who placed three center backs, still has the obsession of defending his goal above all else.
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Dimitrievski did not debut his gloves until mid-first half, forced by an uncomfortable shot from Febas. Shortly after, he had to come out to the edge of the area to force a mistake from El-Abdellaoui, who was already heading solo towards the goal. Although his best intervention was to deflect a sharp shot from Javi Rodríguez. Valencia fired much less powder in the Celta area. Only two resounding shots, one disallowed for offside, from Danjuma. When Miguel Román seemed to have taken control of the midfield, Javi Guerra made one of his runs and gifted a golden ball to Ugrinic, who shot in a favorable situation but found a good response from Radu.
The minutes gave Celta more composure, with Febas and Román managing the dominance and Carreira making dangerous incursions to break his team’s horizontal play. Corberán changed several pieces to counter this trend in the match, but the tune remained the same, except for a breakaway from Danjuma, straight towards Radu’s goal, which Marcos Alonso managed to push to the left until the forward shot wide. The clock was running and chances to get excited barely arrived. The crowd booed in protest because they foresee another mediocre season ahead.
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| Standings | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Standings | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
